The Invisible Woman (1940 film)
| screenplay = | story = | based on = | narrator = | starring = | music = Frank Skinner | cinematography = Elwood Bredell | editing = Frank Gross | studio = Universal Pictures | distributor = Universal Pictures | released = | runtime = 72 minutes | country = USA | language = English | budget = | gross = }} The Invisible Woman is a science fiction, comedy film that was released near the end of 1940 by Universal. It is the third 'Invisible' film following Invisible Man and The Invisible Man Returns which had been released earlier in the year. Plot The wealthy lawyer Dick Russell (John Howard) funds the dotty old inventor Professor Gibbs (John Barrymore) to create an invisibility device. The first test subject for this machine is Kitty Carroll (Virginia Bruce), a department store model who had been fired from her previous job. The machine proves quite successful, and Kitty uses her invisible state to pay back her former sadistic boss, Mr. Growley (Charles Lane). While the Professor and the invisible Kitty are off visiting the lodge of the millionaire Russell, the gangster Blackie Cole (Oscar Homolka) sends in his gang of moronic thugs (including Shemp Howard) to steal the device. With the machine back at their hideout, however, they cannot get it to work. By now Kitty has returned to visibility, and the thugs are sent in to kidnap her and Gibbs. However, she has learned that some alcohol will restore her to invisibility, and uses this to defeat the gang (with help from Russell). At the end of the film it is revealed she has married and become a mother. To top it off, she and the professor learns that her treatment has apparently affected her DNA—as her infant son vanishes upon being rubbed with an alcohol-based lotion! Cast The cast included the aging John Barrymore, Virginia Bruce in the lead role, as well as John Howard, Charlie Ruggles, Margaret Hamilton, Charles Lane and Oscar Homolka. Margaret Sullavan had originally been slated for the role of the invisible woman, but the part did not appeal to her and as a result she did not report for the filming. (As she was under contract with Universal for another film, she was issued a restraining order to prevent her from appearing in other films. She later satisfied her contract with a part in the 1941 film Back Street.) *Virginia Bruce as Kitty Carroll *John Barrymore as Professor Gibbs *John Howard as Richard Russell *Charles Ruggles as George *Oskar Homolka as Blackie *Edward Brophy as Bill *Donald MacBride as Foghorn *Margaret Hamilton as Mrs. Jackson *Shemp Howard as Frankie *Anne Nagel as Jean *Kathryn Adams as Peggy *Maria Montez as Marie *Charles Lane as Growley *Mary Gordon as Mrs. Bates *Thurston Hall as Hudson *Eddie Conrad as Hernandez *Harry C. Bradley as Want-Ad Clerk *Kernan Cripps as Postman *Sarah Edwards as Showroom Buyer *Kay Leslie as Model *Kay Linaker as Showroom Buyer *Frank McClure as Guest at Parade of Models *Kitty O'Neil as Mrs. Patten Production The comedic writers Robert Lees and Fred Rinaldo wrote the screenplay in slapstick style, while H. G. Wells was again credited as the original author of The Invisible Man. The film was directed by A. Edward Sutherland. This film runs for 70 minutes and was filmed in black and white with mono sound. The special effects were produced by John P. Fulton, who earned another nomination for an Oscar following his comparable effects work in The Invisible Man Returns. Release Home media Reception At the time of its release, this film was considered slightly risqué because much is made of the fact that the heroine, though invisible, is naked during much of the action. Remake The film was remade in 1982 as a television pilot starring Bob Denver as a scientist who turns his journalist daughter invisible and Alexa Hamilton in the title role. References * Michael Brunas; John Brunas; Tom Weaver, Universal Horrors: The Studio's Classic Films, 1931-1946, McFarland & Co., 1990, ISBN 0-89950-369-1. External links * * * [http://www.epinions.com/reviews/Invisible_Woman_A_Edward_Sutherland The Invisible Woman (1940 film)] at Epinions * Category:1940 films Category:American science fiction films Category:Black-and-white films Category:Pre-1950 science fiction films Category:Comedy science fiction films Category:English-language films Category:Invisible Man films Category:Universal Monsters film series Category:Universal Pictures films Category:Films directed by A. Edward Sutherland Category:American comedy horror films